New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-11-17
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
CONN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.

THE LAND or SLEEPY HOLLOW AND THE HOME
An1 or AWHsiINGioN Irving. Illustrated: WITH
text by ]. L. WILLIAMS fp 3D. No"'ioA' "'
rutnaiu's sons, 1887
TIT MODERN SCHOOL OF ART. Illustrated PIP.
Oh New-Y"rk. Cassell Co.
NiY 0LD KENTUCKY HOME By srEP.ES 9. ro sPE,a
Insfra cd 10y Mary Hallock Foote and Charles cope
land Boston. TicknOr d o.. 1883.
TIT swANEE RIVER. nv STEPHEN G FOSTER lima
Taied by Charles Copeland IicKnor &oo'' boS''h'
ISIS
Nearly seventy years have passed since the first
mblication Of the Sketchbook," and half that
time since Henry !. luckerman pictured the home
life Of the au hor and the scenes ut Sunnyside In
the volume before the Publishing firm 40 closely
associated WI Washington Irvina IN mis- lifetime
confidently appeal TO the third generation when
has cherished not only admiration tor the writer
but also an aifectonate interest IN beautiful per-
sonalItv. The persistence of this interest III IT.
Wings homo and haunts Is as gratifying as the
perfect preservation of that home SINCE ms
death twent, EIGHT wears ago this NOM IL
The house in which Diedrich kncKer-
booker was born, whch stood on Wllllam-st.
between John and Fulton, disappea'eu
nearIy half a centurv ago and there rs not even
tablet to mark ITS ,lte. Bat Suunvsi'e remains 70
rs an often visited shrine and "The Land of Sleepy
hollow is an appropriate Offering. The text IN
,ludes the ol assic legend of Ichabod Cranes dis
Nv
Of Wollert's Roost together with some pleasantly
written passages. historical. descriptive and per-
.onai by NJ j. L. Williams which are accompa-
med by a series of photograv ares and some OF the
outline drawings of the veteran illustrator, f. o. e.
barley. The photoyrayures, which reproduce re-
cent photographs. repro cent scenes at Iarrytown
associated with Irvings life ana tales as they are
at present and the actuaity of these ILLUSTRATIONS
in way defrauds the reader. Few OF us
would care to exchange our cohcop-
tion of the "GoLlins Bridge for the
octuaI trim unromani ic stone arch. or to accept
n weil-kept road bordered by neat fences IN place
of the LONELY rambling lane" winch led to VOL
fert's Roost. There Is an evident incongruity be-
tween IrvIng's description of Katrina Van las
sel's home and the mansion and estate Win SD
many modern changes shown IA with the remor'e-
less accuracy o the cab net. b., even though
the "wlld brook" become tanned under the yoke
of "A bcdge aud travel, and panied picket fence
in the scene of Andres capture WORKS havoc with
the imagination this Is the fault of time, and the
camera has SIMPLY repro luced the results whlch
time has Brought about. any one who prefers TO
create these scenes for himself from lrvlns's text
rather than to view them as they are has perfect
liberty of choice,
Tie photogIavure process has been reasonably
and some Inc, remarkably successful. As might
be expected, details are usually faithfully gwen,
sometime with an annoying 1tera Ism, as ID the
foreground of the view OF Sleepy lion0W; anu
there are views like that OF the old Dutch farm
house which are quite wonderful III their precision.
The extremes of black and whrte. the absence of
gradaIonS, and especially the aggravated Inten-
s.ty of the high lights. are the most unsatisfactory
features of the plates. Since these photogravnre'
are understood to b. printed from copper plates
which can be retOuched II wOllt seem that either
in this way or III the printing such violent hlgh
lights as amp AZ on page 81 and such painful re-
Elections as are shown in the Wow OF Irvinss study
might be TO some extent modified. But win tDe
general exception of tho glare and glitter pre-
served from the Original negatives these photo
rravures havcmany claims to pictorial interest. and
they are of course valuable records of undouoted
accuracy tne chief end his case, and therefore
instIlying he employment OF photography. The
text printed from type on heavy paper with
wide margins and three small photOgravurcS, IN
clnding portrait of irving. are inserted IN the
cover The letter press edition Is limited to GOO
copies 1t is gratifying 20 recognize the persistence
of the afcctonatc regard which iusllies 30 gcner-
Gus a tribute to Washington irylng's memory.
1t would be interesting to know what the
modern school of art" really is. bat the com
tins title by Messrs. Cassell & Co. affords us
no enlighiermcnt In fac, without reference TO It's
absurdiy inappropriate appearance IN connection
with tins volume, the phrase illustrates loo,ene's
H. the Use OF language which Is unfortunately prev
alcnt i'll discussions of art. Tie term school, rs
applied 10 the immediate following OF IA master III
an academy is readily Understood. The phrase, a
naiona' school," has been significant III tie past.
but now that al Nations act and react upon each
other freely art. as eyerv one sees, is becoming
eosmopolnan. There remains the use OF " school"
as descriptive of d mental attitude toward art, but
there is surely no universal cult to-day, and al
though there are strongly marked tendencies, they
are ACCOMPANIED by decided reactions Ii may be
that the drift pictorial art j. toward naturalisln
and even toward realism, but charact CREATION of
modern painting as universally aturaistc would
be obviously idle. Love Of sounding phrases Is Il
STUN ding block TO the understanding. Even
within the limited range of the volume before US
we find such extremes the severely academic art
Of Lei-hton and Paynter and the bOmely genre
painting of NIcol, win several OF the men claimed
as English artists are of foreign nth aud iranlng
II we were 10 take seriously the editors selections
from The Magazine Of Art, we must infer that tie
proportion maintained here-tfteen English artists
to two Frenchmen and one American represents
his rating of modern art. If Messrs. East
man, johnson, Bonnat and Messonier had been
omitted, and their places supplied 10y
Waits. Alma Iadema aud another. tins volume
would have had distinctive character as helping
to illustrate the ENGLISH art OF the day. for LepreS
B.nghton aud Ilerkomer may well he classed as
EnglIshmen.
The compilation. although "availabilIty" has
plainly been placed FIRST III Its formation, contains
a considerable amount of interesting miscellan
information concerning some artist. like Mlllais,
Holman Hunt. Ncol. Herkomer. Bouchton. Legres
and OtcharlsOn whose work has been introduced
to our public to say nothing OF others unfamlliar
TO our gallery haunters. These articles, winch are
written in the usual VEN of gently expressed
eulogy often include descriptions OF the
artists homes well as of their work.
and perhaps these personalities Will be
better appreciated than acuter criticism. The
illustrations. which are also reproduced